...Just What on Earth Happened?
The crow was plunged into utter confusion. …Just what on earth has happened?
Flying through the night sky, the crow kept rubbing the back of its head with its wing. The spot still throbbed. Never in its life had it suffered so much as a single strike from anyone, let alone a full slap. And to think the blow had come from none other than its own liege…
“This humble servant merely attempted to administer the poison hidden in its breast as ordered… Why, then, did this insignificant one receive a slap…?”
It simply could not comprehend the situation. After all, the crow had only carried out its duty as messenger with absolute fidelity. Had not that very poison been prepared at the personal request of Her Highness Victoria? To remove the Emperor’s Sword. To eliminate the greatest obstacle to the grand undertaking.
Yet the moment that perfect opportunity had rolled to her feet of its own accord, Her Highness had done no such thing as administer the poison. Instead, she had personally cooked porridge for that sword and fed it to him.
“…Is this not a most dire development?”
A dark suspicion began to coil within the crow’s small mind.
“Could it be… that Her Highness has experienced a change of heart? Or perhaps… she has even grown fond of that sword in the interim?”
…No, surely not. The crow shook its head vigorously. Who was Victoria von Roseria? Scorned as lowborn, she had carved every humiliation into her heart and harbored a razor-sharp ambition to one day overturn the imperial family itself. Could such a person have her resolve shaken by a mere man?
“…No. Absolutely not. It cannot be.”
Yet that scene refused to leave its thoughts. The tender care with which she had wrapped his bandages. The serious expression on her face as she had struggled in the kitchen to prepare a single bowl of porridge. And the blue fury with which she had raged at the crow, demanding how it could dare suggest poisoning a bowl she had cooked with such sincerity.
“…No matter how one looks at it, that was… the face of someone genuinely enraged…”
The crow’s heart sank like a stone.
If, by some one-in-a-million chance, Her Highness had truly given her heart to that sword, this was no ordinary crisis. The entire grand plan would collapse.
“…Should this humble servant not report this matter to the others at once?”
The crow pondered the question in deadly earnest. Perhaps it was time to abandon this sinking ship. To cast aside a master who had changed her mind without a shred of regret and seek a new nest—
“…No, wait.”
Suddenly, a flash of insight cut through the crow’s mind.
“…Wait, wait just a moment. Could it be…? Perhaps…?”
The crow turned the scene over in its thoughts once more—the image of Her Highness feeding porridge to the Emperor’s Sword. And at last, understanding dawned.
“…So that is what it was!”
The crow’s eyes flew wide open.
Consider this. Who was Kyle Lowenheim? He was the Emperor’s Sword, one of the mightiest warriors in the empire. A living catastrophe who would inflict catastrophic losses even if the entire Imperial Knights charged him at once. How could one carelessly assassinate such a man with poison? And even if they succeeded, would his loyal subordinates simply stand by? The moment a rumor spread that the Emperor’s Sword had died under mysterious circumstances, they would rise up at once to hunt down the traitors. The grand plan would be ruined before it even began.
“So… that is why she acted thus.”
The crow trembled from head to toe.
“Rather than killing him rashly, she intends to keep him close and tame him.”
That was the most terrifying move of all. Slaying someone outright with poison was the act of an amateur. A true master would take that perilous blade into her own hands. She would wrap bandages with feigned affection, cook warm porridge and feed it to him, gently taming the savage beast. So that one day the sword would swing of its own will for Her Highness.
“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer…”
The crow recalled the old maxim and let out a sigh.
“This humble servant failed to grasp the profound meaning behind it…”
Indeed. Her Highness had not experienced a change of heart. On the contrary, she was painting a far larger, far more terrifying picture than someone like this insignificant servant could ever have imagined—one that involved swallowing the empire’s strongest sword whole and making it hers.
“…As expected. As expected of Her Highness Victoria.”
Goosebumps prickled across the crow’s entire body. The Lowenheim family—the lineage of lions that had guarded the imperial house for generations. To think she intended to devour even the last lion in a single bite. The sheer scale of her ambition was beyond measure.
“This humble servant was foolish. To dare doubt the depths of Her Highness’s intentions…”
High above in the night sky, the crow bowed its head deeply. The fleeting thought of fleeing had already been washed away without a trace.
And at that very moment, beyond the lighted window below…
“…Yes, blow on it like that before you eat. It’s hot.”
“…Understood, Your Highness. But you truly needn’t go this far…”
“Enough with the protests. There, don’t spill any.”
A scene of perfect warmth and harmony unfolded as she spoon-fed the injured man the porridge she had prepared with such care, one gentle spoonful at a time.
Watching from a distance, the crow shuddered once more in awe.
“…A truly terrifying person. Even her skill at taming a man is so utterly natural.”
Of course, the crow had no inkling of what the two people inside were actually thinking. One side was simply overjoyed to feed a spoonful to someone she held dear. The other was anxiously wondering, If I don’t eat this, will I get scolded again?
The crow remained blissfully unaware.
The next morning, I opened my eyes to find the room spotlessly clean, as if the previous night had been an illusion. The scattered cooking utensils and bloodstained cloths had all been neatly put away, returned to their proper places. The only thing left by the bedside was a single empty medicine bowl.
Victoria was nowhere to be seen.
The events of last night—returning covered in blood, leaning on her for support, eating the warm porridge she had cooked—felt strangely distant, like a fading dream.
“…Was it all a dream?”
I stared blankly at the ceiling. The moment I shifted, a sharp throb shot through my side.
…No. With pain this vivid, it clearly hadn’t been a dream.
As I lay there, quietly savoring the lingering warmth of the night before—
Thud. Thud. Thud!
“Deputy Commander! Are you in there, Deputy Commander?!”
One of my subordinates was pounding urgently on the door.
“…What is it?”
“It’s an emergency, sir! You must prepare at once!”
…Emergency? What now?
Still confused, I opened the door. My subordinate, face flushed with excitement, immediately pressed me.
And from that moment, events began to spiral in the most unwelcome direction.
“The Emperor’s Sword slew a hundred manticores single-handedly!”
“The very pack that had wiped out three subjugation teams! All by himself!”
“Truly, he is a monster wearing human skin!”
…Could you please stop giving me such terrifying nicknames?
Every time I walked down the imperial palace corridors, whispers followed in my wake. Gazes filled with awe, admiration, and fear. Before I knew it, I had become a hero whose name was on everyone’s lips across the empire.
And I hated it with every fiber of my being.
Think about it. Why had I rushed all the way to that remote border region? To escape the palace and avoid Victoria von Roseria’s schemes. That was the only reason. I had never once wanted to become a hero or accomplish great deeds. Such pointless fame would only make it harder to leave this place.
Yet somehow I had butchered an entire pack of manticores, and somehow that had turned into a legendary military exploit. And now—
“Sir Lowenheim, His Majesty summons you. Proceed to the audience chamber at once.”
…It had finally come to this.
The audience chamber was packed so tightly there was scarcely room to stand. Civil and military officials lined both sides. I walked slowly down the path between them toward the throne. Hundreds of eyes turned toward me at once. The weight of their collective gaze made my back ache.
…Just what kind of situation was this?
“Sir Lowenheim.”
The emperor looked down at me from his throne with an exceedingly pleased expression.
“I have heard of your exploits. You single-handedly subjugated the horde of magical beasts at the border and saved the people trapped in suffering. How could I not call you the most loyal of all loyal subjects!”
“…This servant is unworthy of such praise, Your Majesty.”
I knelt on one knee and bowed my head with the most solemn expression I could manage. …No, Your Majesty. I was simply running away and it happened by accident… I could hardly say that.
“Therefore, I intend to bestow upon you a fitting reward.”
…Ah. This felt ominous. Extremely ominous.
From this day forward, Kyle Lowenheim is hereby appointed Commander of the Imperial Knights. His peerage shall be elevated by one rank. In addition, he shall be granted a fief and one thousand gold coins.
The military strength of the imperial palace now rests entirely in his hands. Let him guard the empire steadfastly at our side.
I wanted to scream.
Commander? Commander?!
I barely managed to swallow the wail rising in my throat.
Even as deputy commander I had been frantically searching for a chance to escape. And now they were making me Commander? The position that placed the entire military power of the palace under my responsibility? This was practically an order to bury my roots even deeper into the palace!
My escape… my dream of a peaceful little restaurant in the countryside… was slipping further and further away.
…Just what sin did I commit in my previous life?
What terrible karma had I accumulated that the harder I tried to run, the deeper I sank into this quagmire? I felt like bursting into tears right there on the spot.
“Why do you not answer, Sir Lowenheim? Is Our favor so overwhelming?”
“…Y-yes, Your Majesty. This servant is simply… simply overwhelmed with gratitude and awe.”
…Yes. So overwhelmed that the world before my eyes had gone completely black.
Amid thunderous applause from every official in the chamber, I accepted the appointment as Commander with the most heartbroken expression the world had ever seen.
Farewell, my countryside restaurant.
Farewell, my freedom.
I never knew that becoming a hero could be quite this miserable…